June continued practicing his smile even when they were having lunch in the cafeteria. He was still seated with his teammates. Ren was teaching Daeho and Casper how to navigate his audio software, but the two appeared like they had been stuck in a Calculus class for intermediate students…when they were, in fact, merely beginners.
Jisung and C-Jay joined their table, the two of them staring at June as he stared at his reflection on his phone.
"You don't have anything stuck on your teeth, bro," Jisung innocently said.
"What did you say?" June asked, snapping his eyes at him.
Jisung's eyes widened in surprise. "Uh, I was just saying—it's alright if you don't check your teeth as often. They're clean."
June sighed and slumped on the table. Was his smile that atrocious?
He decided to stop practicing his smile and popped a piece of potato in his mouth. Daeho was about to speak when there was a commotion heard at the other table.
"Woah, this famous doctor actually made a video about us," Bin exclaimed.
"I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. This doctor is a plastic surgeon, and he analyzes people's faces for clout," Steel said.
"You're the first one on the list!" Bin said, laughing as he pointed at Steel.
Steel clicked his tongue and shook his head. "It's not like there's anything wrong with it. I just got my nose done! Just my nose."
Being a natural-born gossipper, C-Jay called for their attention. "Hey, what are you guys talking about?"
Bin and Steel looked over their way. "Oh, it's the new livestream highlights that Doctor Kim posted."
Jangmoon frowned. "Oh, I've watched that doctor before! He exposed top actors of getting surgery, didn't he?"
"Yup," Bin responded. "And he made a video on some of the trainees on Rising Stars."
"Am I there?" C-Jay asked.
"Don't even ask," Steel chuckled. "You aren't famous enough to be here."
C-Jay huffed. "Well, who's there?"
"Hmm, let's see. Steel, Zeth, Casper, and June are here," Bin said. "Wait, Leo and Yuri are here too. They're being dubbed as the 'Nose' brothers. Doctor Kim insinuated that the two of them had the same doctor."
June stopped chewing when he heard his name.
"Doctor Kim?" June asked.
"Don't tell me you don't know that guy again," C-Jay said.
"I don't," June nonchalantly said.
C-Jay sighed and brought out his phone. "Let me introduce you to him, then." He opened Doctor Kim's YouWatch profile, which had over 500,000 subscribers. C-Jay clicked on the latest video, which was a highlight of yesterday's livestream.
It was entitled: 'Rising Stars: Unveiling Plastic Fantasies - A Nose Dive into the Glitz and Nips!'
The video started, and it seemed like the doctor was determined to find every flaw on their faces. By this point, Casper, Ren, and Daeho paid attention to the video, too.
"This doctor is speaking out of his ass," Casper said. "I didn't get any surgery done. That's just a weird predebut picture."
"Yeah, his viewers send in the worst pictures for comparison," Jangmoon said. "Oh, hey. It's your turn, June."
June paid extra attention. He didn't mind being accused of having plastic surgery. It was evident that his looks had improved a lot through the course of the competition.
However, he didn't look drastically different. His features were still the same, but Fu made him grow more handsomely into them.
June, however, was curious about what picture they used as a comparison. He had tried searching high and low for his past pictures but couldn't find a single one. Aside from his identification card, which was probably not taken that long ago, he didn't have anything.
He was expecting a slightly uglier version of himself, but what he didn't expect was a very unfamiliar face.
"What the heck?" C-Jay exclaimed. "Is that you?"
June paused the video and squinted his eyes to get a better look. The photo was very blurred—like it had been zoomed from a wide picture. However, it was evident that the guy in the photo wasn't physically attractive. It didn't look like June right now. However, their body build and eyes were definitely similar.
"I don't think that's me," June truthfully said.
"Don't listen to that guy anymore," Casper said. "He's just spouting nonsense."
"You're right," June said, shrugging. He wasn't one to fixate on a person's looks. It seemed like a lot of people still do, though. Most of the doctor's followers were smoking the trainees in the comment section, acting like insulting other people's looks would add to their own.
So, June wasn't too affected by it.
Doctor Kim was a worm compared to the snakes he had encountered.
"But I'm curious," Jangmoon said. "Did any of you get plastic surgery? I had my eyes and nose done!" he proudly said.
"Should you be saying that?" Casper asked.
"Why not?" Jangmoon said. "I'm sure a lot of these guys had surgery. Right, Daeho?"
"I didn't," Daeho said. "I'm scared of knives."
Jangmoon clicked his tongue. "Well, I'm sure C-Jay did."
"Yup!" the trainee smiled. "My teeth are fake, too! I got veneers and a nose job in Turkey."
"You even went to Turkey for that?" Jisung asked.
"Yes," C-Jay nodded. "It was the day after my girlfriend sold my ring to meet a more handsome guy. I used his pictures as my inspiration."
The table turned silent for a while but brushed it off in the end. C-Jay was weird. That was already established.
"Well, what about you, June?" Jangmoon asked. "Did you get any procedures done on your face? C-Jay told me that big entertainment companies usually sponsor cosmetic surgery for their trainees. Did you get one from Phoenix?"
June paused for a while. He discreetly wiped his nose but didn't feel an implant.
He wasn't aware if Choi Joon-ho had any surgeries before as his past pictures were nowhere to be found, so June settled on the safest answer.
"I don't think so," he said.
"You're unsure?" Daeho asked.
June sighed. "Let's not speak about the topic anymore. Didn't we already agree that Doctor Kim is a quack?"
"Yeah," Casper said. "It's best to ignore the issue. That's what other actors did, and it eventually died down."
June nodded in agreement. There were more important issues to address—like their song. So, ignoring it would be the best course of action.
However, that seemed to be impossible when Fu showed up just as he drank his Banana Milk.
[Special Mission! Add another aspect to your skill: Music Production.]
[The starting grade will be B+]
June raised his eyebrows in surprise. Was Fu actually getting better with his job?
[Does the host accept the mission?]
June looked at the people sitting around the table and saw they were back to their usual antics.
'I accept,' he internally said.
[Special Mission has been accepted.]
[The special mission is: Baby Mugshot. Locate your childhood/teenage photos! Deadline for the mission: 72 hours. Failure to accomplish the mission entails having one of your skill aspects taken.]
